1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to fuel additives for improving thermal efficiency of petroleum fuel such as gasoline or gas oil and reducing the production of pollutive gases upon combustion.
2. Prior Art
In general, as to ignition engine such as automobile engine, the higher the compression ratio is, the higher the thermal efficiency and performance are, and the lower the fuel cost is. When regular gasoline is used, the high compression tends to cause abnormal combustion or knocking, and the thermal efficiency is decreases as a result.
In order to prevent this, gasoline with a high octane number which has an anti-knocking effect is used to raise the compression ratio and improve the thermal efficiency. However, gasolines with high octane number which are produced by mixing various gasoline components in an appropriate ratio are expensive.
Oxidation of gasoline reduces the octane number and resultant high-molecular weight gum increases fuel consumption. Therefore an anti-oxidizing agent ought to be added to commercial gasoline.
On the other hand, as to oil used for gas engines (compression--ignition engines), stability, fluidity and ignitability are the critical properties. Therefore, gas oil with a high octane number is necessary, although it is expensive compared to the ordinary gas oil.
Another drawback is that oxidation of gas oil produces a high-molecular weight gum. If the amount of the high-molecular weight gum produced is high, it blocks the injection nozzle and hence impedes the supply of the fuel.
In order to prevent this, hydrogenation purification has been required.
The present inventor of the invention was inspired by the abundance of elements contained in seawater and the reaction of an alkaline agent in the combustion process, and developed a combustion aid by dissolving a specific alkaline agent into seawater (Jap. Pat. Laid-open Publ. No. 63-225695), and achieved a marvelous success. This combustion aid (liquid) proved to be especially effective when sprayed into the engine and led to the development of a system for adding this combustion aid to the engine (Jap. Pat. Laid-open Publ. No. 63-147938, Jap. Pat. Appl. No. 62-319327)
However, this combustion aid requires modification of the engine and can not be applied to all types of engines. Above all, the above-mentioned system is designed for an engine utilizing the low pressure produced by the piston motion to send mixture of gases to the combustion chamber. When used with a turbo engine, the combustion aid must be supplied with pressure and hence requires a sophisticated system which involves technical difficulties.